


Tokimeki Sou

by renyoba



Category: Hinatazaka46 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 16:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20491826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renyoba/pseuds/renyoba
Summary: Oneshots loosely based on the Tokimeki Sou music video





	Tokimeki Sou

She sighed. Club activities were cancelled for the day. _ How predictable _.

Nao wouldn't necessarily describe herself as a cynical person but the way this day had been developing, starting to expect the worst was unavoidable.

She normally considered herself to be slightly luckier than your average person. Not to the extent where she'd win the lottery every month or where she's cheated death multiple times, but fate has a way of giving her simple advantages in life. Sometimes it'd be things like a test would only cover the same half of the content that she actually had time to study for, other times it'd be littler things like there's no line at her favourite tapioca place when she gets there.

The downside is that once in a while, fate schedules a few weeks' worth of bad luck all for the span of one day - it's part of the agreement to keep the balance. Some people have one instance of significantly awful luck then fate restores the equilibrium through a series of smaller, fortunate experiences. Others take the incredibly good with the incredibly bad.

Nao experiences luck trivially both ways. While her daily good luck benefits her modestly, her bad luck comes in the form of very minor inconveniences, but all events of it are concentrated in the same timespan. She’s asked herself many times if she’d rather have more consequential luck both ways but hasn’t come to a conclusion yet.

Nao packed away her empty lunchbox as the broadcasting club played the final song for the day through the school-wide PA system. She made sure to double check that her homework for the final two classes were complete, though only by vaguely flicking through the set pages of the workbooks.

* * *

"Bye Nao."

Nao waved at her classmates as they ran to their club rooms while she stuffed her volleyball gear in her locker for the next time they have training.

Grabbing her bag on the way out, she headed straight for the bus stop just outside the school gates; with no training for the day she'd rather make the most of her extra time than stick around waiting until her friends are free to hang out. She was glad it had gotten cloudier since lunchtime because she just missed the city-bound bus and didn't want to get sunburnt while waiting outside for the next one.

When it came, Nao made herself comfortable in a window seat towards the back and searched her bag for her earphones. She sighed. She left them at school.

She'd accidentally dismissed her alarm instead of snoozing it this morning and in the rush to leave, she grabbed her earphones off her desk and crudely jammed them into the rarely-used side pocket of her volleyball bag. She hadn’t needed them throughout the day until now as she spent the morning bus trip rereading over her notes for the morning lesson's weekly quiz (after she’d caught her breath from running to catch it) and phones weren't allowed on campus during school hours, so she’d completely forgotten they were in the wrong bag.

It’s like she has a balloon that slowly grows week by week accumulating an equal amount of bad luck every time she experiences a positive event, until the pressure is so high that it finally bursts. Sometimes she can sense it coming in the days preceding, as if she’s holding the balloon in her hands. It's not heavy, but she can feel the tension. And when it pops, some of the bad luck is small enough to slip through her fingers, barely noticeable. She just has to make sure not to step in it and leave tracks wherever she goes.

Other times, it's like she's only holding the string the balloon is tied to as it trails along behind her, always just out of sight. And when she stops to look, it rises above her and the knot untangles itself so that all the bad luck drizzles on her head, inescapable. The difference being that there’s nothing she can do about these ones other than stand and wait for the balloon to be empty again, just like today.

She settled for silently looking out the window to watch the view of buildings progressively growing in density, much like the people onboard the bus.

An hour later of having only the chorus of a song stuck in her head, Nao pressed the button for her upcoming stop. "Excuse me," she mumbled to her seatmate who boarded about three-quarters of the way through the trip.

The girl didn't move. Nao must’ve spoken too quietly.

Nao gently cleared her throat and said, only marginally louder, "Um, excuse me."

"Huh? Oh, sorry," the girl stood to let Nao pass.

Slightly nodding to each other, Nao balanced her way towards the front of the bus as it slowed to a stop. With another nod and a soft 'thank you' to the driver, she shrugged her bag higher on her shoulder and headed down the main street.

She walked past the tapioca shop (the line was too long) and entered the bakery a few stores down to have a quick snack and buy some extra in case she gets hungry again later. Though as expected, she was just short of change and had to use her larger notes to pay.

Choosing a savoury bun for now, she sat at one of the high stools at the front of the store, eating slowly while watching people and traffic go by. It wasn't like she had anywhere in particular to be. Exam season was already over, so she didn't have to attend cram school every day anymore. Besides, she preferred sitting here over navigating her way against the crowds headed for the bus and train interchange.

Her hunger satiated and a wallet full of coins, Nao headed for the library.

* * *

It didn’t take long before she took a break from studying. Nao had felt herself losing focus with each passing minute to the point where she’d reread the same question from the workbook four times and still didn't know what it was asking. Whenever she checked the time on her phone, she felt even more restless. What she thought was at least a good 45 minutes that had passed turned out to only be 12.

Nao was very tempted to call it a day, but she knew that if she didn’t finish her homework now, she definitely wouldn’t get it finished when she got home. She sighed and decided it was time to stretch her legs.

She left her things on the table while she browsed through the fiction aisles, letting the tips of her fingers trail along the spines of the books by her hip as she walked past. There were a few unfamiliar books that had caught her eye, but the majority are ones she’d already read. She would stop to skim through the first few pages for a couple of them, but none had seemed interesting enough to borrow so far. She’d just turned the corner into the fourth aisle when she heard the sound of books dropping.

Nao turned to check if maybe she’d accidentally pushed some off the shelf but was surprised when she found nothing on the ground around her. Just as she looked back up, she spotted a familiar face walk in through the doors behind the cluttered table of whispering students.

She smiled, instantly in a better mood. She returned to her table, waving her hand to grab her friend’s attention.

"Nao, how come you're here so early? I thought you had volleyball training," Hinano asked as she approached.

"It got cancelled today because coach is sick," Nao replied while Hinano sat down across from her, taking her workbooks and pencil case out of her bag. Hinano is her junior by two years, but they’ve been close since Hinano’s family moved to her neighbourhood a year ago.

They attend different schools, Kosaka being a second year student in a senior high school outside of the city and Hinano a third year in a mixed junior-senior high school nearby. Even so, they’ve formed a sisterly relationship, usually meeting up after school to go home together and sometimes going out together on the weekends.

At first Nao was impressed by how well-spoken and composed Hinano was at her age, always respectful and with great posture. But the closer they became, the more she found herself floored by her junior’s weird antics. Hinano’s the type to have two wildly different sides but without the self-awareness. On one hand, her unintentional comedic genius can shock someone but on the other hand, her endearing presence alone is relaxing. She’s a mystery, but she’s just what Nao needed to avoid frustration.

“Have you eaten?” Nao asked.

“No, but I’m not hungry yet.”

“Let me know if you get hungry, I have buns and pastries.”

Neither talked much more as they studied, aside from Hinano occasionally asking Nao for help with her homework questions. It was a familiar routine. They would never really planned to go to the library together because both usually only decide on their own last minute.

They actually first met at the library a few weeks after Hinano moved in. Nao had recognised her from around her area like at the grocery store or bus stop, and introduced herself. Now, they’ve run into each other enough times at the library that it wasn’t surprising anymore.

* * *

It was dark by the time they decided to leave. Nao had finished her work earlier than Hinano so she reread one of her favourite novels while waiting until Hinano was ready to go. Nao actually wanted to read one of the books that caught her attention earlier but someone else had borrowed the last copy of it while she was busy studying.

They stopped by the nearby convenience store on the way home. Hinano treated Nao to a warm milk tea and they sat to eat the rest of Nao’s bread.

But before Hinano could take a bite, Nao noticed something. “Hey, are you wearing lipgloss?”

Hinano’s cheeks started to take the colour of her lips, “Yes, Kyoko-senpai lent me some after school today. She says it makes my lips look soft and shiny.”

“Oh, since when were you interested in makeup?”

“It’s what the girls in my class are talking about. Well, that and something else…” Hinano mumbled the last part so quietly Nao almost missed it.

“Hang on, do you have a crush on someone? Who is it? Tell me!” Nao grinned, leaning in.

“What? No! I don’t have a crush on anyone! I just wanted to understand what they were talking about, so I asked Kyoko-senpai to teach me,” Hinano explained, before taking a bite out of her pork floss bun.

Nao couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy towards Kyoko. But she admitted that she wasn’t very interested in makeup herself so Hinano was probably right in asking someone else for help. They’ve met only once, when Hinano introduced them at their school festival. Even at first glance she got the impression that Kyoko, one year her senior, knew a lot about beauty products. While Nao had shown up in a simple polo and button up skirt, Kyoko looked like she was on location for a fashion magazine photoshoot.

Though she did feel glad that Hinano had friends at school.

Nao sighed. “Have you gotten your exam results yet?”

“Not yet. I think they marked the seniors’ first, though our teacher said we’ll get them by the end of the week. I just hope I passed.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you did. You were studying a lot for those exams. In fact, I’ll take you to the planetarium if you got all A's.”

Hinano immediately perked at that. She normally did well in exams but this being her first year at this school, she still wasn't accustomed to the standards. She hoped they were similar to the standards for the more minor examinations they've had over the semester.

Nao just enjoyed pampering Hinano and would find any excuse to do so, especially when Hinano was feeling down. It made her feel like she was an older sister.

It had started to rain heavily by the time they finished eating. Neither of them had brought an umbrella because the day started out with good weather and they didn't think they needed one. But their houses also weren't far enough away to justify buying new umbrellas before they left the convenience store. Nao sighed. She could already anticipate her mother scolding her for coming home drenched.

"Let's go!" Hinano jet off suddenly, holding her bag over her head in an attempt to keep herself dry.

Nao threw their bag of empty wrappers in the bin (twice, because missed the first time and had to pick it up again) and ran out of the store to catch up with Hinano. _ Maybe the bad luck balloon will keep me dry instead. _

* * *

**Epilogue**

After a bath and some dinner, Nao went through her night routine, and put her favourite crew-length fluffy socks to keep her feet warm after getting soaked in the rain. She was just relieved that the day was over and that she’ll have good luck again starting tomorrow. She was about to go back to her room to set a second alarm for backup when she stepped into a puddle of water left over from when she got out of the bath, soaking her socks.

She sighed. _Guess the balloon had one more left in it._  


**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for reading! This is my first time writing so please give me feedback. I didn’t really have much in mind for this one, but I thought I might as well give it a shot anyway.


End file.
